In this episode of Editorial, HW News Managing Editor Sujit Nair addresses a fundamental point - how corruption hurts every Indian's pocket. As reports of frauds involving bureaucrats keep coming to light, Mr. Nair addresses the politician-bureaucrat nexus, and how it hurts common taxpayers.
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[00:00:00] You know a bureaucrat doing a favor for the ruling party, doing a favor so that the ruling party wins the election, doing a favor so that they bend rules for the ruling party, we are all okay. We again laugh it off saying that it's okay, it's okay.
[00:00:17] Next time when you see a situation, when you read that you know a person, an opposition party member or a journalist or a person who voices opinion against the government is arrested or raided, please think twice. Please think twice because the person who arrested that politician, that person will take his reward for it and that reward the politician doesn't pay him, the ruling party doesn't pay him, you pay him.
[00:00:50] Namaskar, welcome to another episode of Editorial. Today's editorial is different. You know why? Because I'm going to start with the conclusion. Let us start with the conclusion first and then we will get into the story.
[00:01:05] You know, nowadays when we hear things like a politician, a politician from the opposition party is raided, he's taken to custody, he's in ED custody, he's got IT notices, he's, you know, we laugh it off.
[00:01:24] We don't even bother to think. Nowadays, it is a new normal. It is regular. And we all laugh, maybe crack a joke saying that in few days or very shortly this man will go and join or this woman will go and join the ruling dispensation, the Bharatiya Janata Party or the ruling dispensation.
[00:01:42] This is something that we now, it's normal to us. You know, a bureaucrat doing a favour for the ruling party, doing a favour so that the ruling party wins the election, doing a favour so that they bend rules for the ruling party, we are all okay. We again laugh it off saying that, okay, see look, after post retirement he or she will get benefited. Oh, see, after post retirement he or she will get a plum posting somewhere, post retirement posting somewhere and we laugh it off.
[00:02:12] Because, why? Because it's a new normal. It is a new normal. We become immune to all these. We become immune to this is because end of the day as a citizen of this country, as an Indian, we feel, how does all this affect us, Baba? How does this affect our life? Politicians, opposition, journalists, all let them go, let them go behind bars.
[00:02:40] Who told them to go and go against the government? Why go against the government? Why do all this? This is what our attitude is. And that is where my story begins. My story begins with Haryana. An IAS officer arrested on retirement day in Haryana's 169 crore banking fraud case.
[00:03:05] The CBI has arrested IAS officer Pradeep Kumar and the then member secretary of Haryana State Pollution Control Board for allegedly misappropriating 169 crores in government funds by authorizing transfers of IDFC first bank branch in Chandigarh under the pretext of creating fixed deposits. 169 crores siphoned off your money. Your money. Pollution board's money.
[00:03:35] This is how taking favors or making these people do favors for the government affects you. I will tell you how. I will give you another story. Indian Express, June 29th, 2026. Inflated bills. This is very, very serious. Inflated bills. Missing files. Former health service chief, ex-CPA official arrested in medical procurement scam. Ex-Ray machines at 33 lakhs each against an actual cost of around 10 lakhs.
[00:04:03] Linen bedsheets at rupees 450 a piece against its original price of 150. ORS sachet at rupees 15 each against the market price of 2 rupees 50 paise. This is how the medical, the health department siphoned off money. Health department siphoned off money and this ex-official was arrested. And this happened in Delhi. This happened in Delhi. I will give you another ex-collector Maharashtra.
[00:04:31] Ex-collector Maharashtra Bede district held for 241 crore land acquisition compensation case. The Maharashtra government has issued a suspension order against the former Bede collector Avinash Patak who was arrested in connection with an alleged land acquisition compensation scam of rupees 241 crores. 30th June, Indian Express. Money laundering scars economy. IAS officer denied bail in rupees 3 crore bribery case.
[00:04:59] According to ED officials at the Surendra Nagar collectorate had allegedly fixed rates for land conversion with the then collector Rajendra Patel receiving a 50% share. This is like I said on 30th June, Indian Express. Let me read. 10th April NDTV. Rupees 960 crore Jal Jeevan mission scam. Ex-IAS officer sent to 3-day remand.
[00:05:26] The retired IAS officer went missing for a long time and a lookout notice had been earlier issued against him. Where the high profile Rajasthan Jal Jeevan mission scam case. This retired IAS officer was sent to 3-day remand until April 13th while the anti-corruption bureau had sought 5 days of remand from the court. The allegations against the retired IAS officer Subodh Agarwal are that while serving as the ACS when he was the ACS when he was serving as an IAS officer.
[00:05:55] When he was serving as an IAS officer in the PHED, he ignored complaints against messrs Sri Ganpati Tubewell and Sri Sham Tubewell under the Jal Jeevan scheme. Both firms continue to secure the tenders. The two firms proprietary Mahesh Mittal and Padamchan Jain are accused of securing tenders worth around 960 crores by using forced certificates from IRCON International Companies. This is what you are talking about.
[00:06:23] There has been corruption when it comes to your medicine. There has been corruption when it comes to your water. There has been corruption when it comes to your administration. This is what you are talking about. How does this all connect? This all connects with a very simple funda. You see the public representative which is your government. The public representative is supposed to keep an eye on these people. Supervise these people. When a public representative supervises these people diligently.
[00:06:52] What really happens is it curbs corruption. It curbs malpractices. I am not saying therefore malpractices will be over and will be completely eradicated from this country and all that. I am not talking about utopian situations. But at least there will be a curb on corruption. There will be a check on malpractices. There will be a level, a line drawn.
[00:07:16] The problem is when the supervisor himself asks for favor saying that, Because he is opposing me. Because he is opposing me. Because he is opposing me. Raid that fellow. Because he is opposing me. Do me this favor. Because I want to win the election. What do you think that bureaucrat is going to do the next day? He says, listen, I have done my favors to the government. Now I will do favors for myself also. No?
[00:07:45] So he will boldly catch your call and say, boss, you give me this money. Otherwise, this work of yours will not happen. I will starve you of medicines. Karle jo karna hai. Why? Because he has already done his favors to the government. Mind you. He has already done his favors to the people he is supposed to report to. His supervisor has been done favors to. Now his supervisor can't ask him. No, he will say, no. When you ask me to arrest, I arrested. Now? Now it is my chance to make money. What are you talking about? You talk about my money.
[00:08:14] I will talk about how you made me arrest this person. End of story. Breakdown of law. Breakdown of systems. What are you expecting? Before you tell me that, this used to happen before also. Didn't it happen under Congress? Didn't it happen when UPA was the government? This is normally what I receive. This is the normal feedback that I receive. I agree. I agree. All of this happened. But what are you trying to say?
[00:08:41] Because it happened with the UPA, it should happen in NDA's regime too. Is that what we are trying to say? Didn't we change UPA because we wanted all of that to go away? And the same thing is happening in NDA. So we are okay with it now because the UPA did it. If that is the case, then the next government will do the same and they will say NDA did it. The next government and that will come and do the same. And is that how it's supposed to be?
[00:09:09] Isn't improvement what we vote for? Where is that improvement that we seeked? That's the question. And now it is going to harm the share system. The point that I'm trying to make is, earlier on, there was an outrage when we used to hear that somebody has been arrested falsely or somebody has been raided falsely or there has been a person who is raided today is jumping to the party in power the next day. All that would outrage us. It would be surprise. It would be something that we would talk about.
[00:09:39] It would be surprise. It would be things that would be debated in the national press and the national media. Today, nothing. They are celebrated. People who jump parties, people who mock parties, you know, whatever and jump to the next party and the ruling party, they are celebrated. Like I said, it has become the new normal, which is what is concerning me, which is what is concerning me and which is what should concern you.
[00:10:07] So, next time when you see, that's all my request is with this short editorial. Next time when you see a situation, when you read that, you know, a person, an opposition party member or a journalist or a person who voices his opinion against the government is arrested or raided. Please think twice. Please think twice because the person who arrested that politician, that person will take his reward for it. And that reward, the politician doesn't pay him.
[00:10:37] The government, the ruling party doesn't pay him. You pay him. Your money, your subsidy, your tax pays that particular person that reward. Because end of the day, there is no free lunch in this country. And especially when it comes to sleaze, when it comes to corruption, when it comes to when it comes to going against the law, when it comes to going against the sheer moral fabric of this country, there is no free lunch. Everybody needs their coffers to be filled. And that's that coffer is filled by your money.
[00:11:07] Please internalize this. It's important for our country because we need to raise questions when one, one wrong is done in this country, especially by the ruling or the administration. That is the point I wanted to make today. Till I see you next time. That's tomorrow at 10. Namaskar.